At 34 years of age, Gregory Howe quit teaching in London to chase his childhood dream of becoming a world-ranked tennis professional. He started his year-long journey in the minor leagues, playing across four continents, as far afield as Bangkok, Kampala and Lahore, initially struggling against younger, fitter aspiring pros. Breaking through to the elite ATP tour, he got within volleying distance of some of the greats of the modern game. Eventually, he managed to juggle competing on the ATP tour with holding down a nine-to-five job. Along the way he encountered almost everything the tennis world has to offer, from rising stars racing to the top, to players whose hopes are slowly being shattered. Chasing Points: A Season on the Pro Tennis Circuit offers a rare behind-the-scenes glimpse into the life of a touring tennis professional from the perspective of a real 'underdog'.

"From Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of The Elephant in the Room comes the first inside account of the Westminster Dog Show-America's oldest and most beloved dog show-following one dog on his quest to become a champion"--

The LNCS 12115 constitutes the workshop papers which were held also online in conjunction with the 25th International Conference on Database Systems for Advanced Applications in September 2020. The complete conference includes 119 full papers presented together with 19 short papers plus 15 demo papers and 4 industrial papers in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from a total of 487 submissions. DASFAA 2020 presents this year following five workshops: The 7th International Workshop on Big Data Management and Service (BDMS 2020) The 6th International Symposium on Semantic Computing and Personalization (SeCoP 2020) The 5th Big Data Quality Management (BDQM 2020) The 4th International Workshop on Graph Data Management and Analysis (GDMA 2020) The 1st International Workshop on Artificial Intelligence for Data Engineering (AIDE 2020)

It seemed like a simple plan—visit fifty-two places in fifty-two weeks. But for author Ken Lamberton, a forty-five-year veteran of life in the Sonoran Desert, the entertaining results were anything but easy. In Chasing Arizona, Lamberton takes readers on a yearlong, twenty-thousand-mile joyride across Arizona during its centennial, racking up more than two hundred points of interest along the way. Lamberton chases the four corners of Arizona, attempts every county, every reservation, and every national monument and state park, from the smallest community to the largest city. He drives his Kia Rio through the longest tunnels and across the highest suspension bridges, hikes the hottest deserts, and climbs the tallest mountain, all while visiting the people, places, and treasures that make Arizona great. In the vivid, lyrical, often humorous prose the author is known for, each destination weaves together stories of history, nature, and people, along with entertaining side adventures and excursions. Maps and forty-four of the author’s detailed pencil drawings illustrate the journey. Chasing Arizona is unlike any book of its kind. It is an adventure story, a tale of Arizona, a road-warrior narrative. It is a quest to see and experience as much of Arizona as possible. Through intimate portrayals of people and place, readers deeply experience the Grand Canyon State and at the same time celebrate what makes Arizona a wonderful place to visit and live.

This book explores gaming culture, focusing on competent players and excessive use. Addressing the contested question of whether addiction is possible in relation to computer games - specifically online gaming - A World of Excesses demonstrates that excessive playing does not necessarily have detrimental effects, and that there are important contextual elements that influence what consequences playing has for the players. Based on new empirical studies, including in-depth interviews and virtual ethnography, and drawing on material from international game related sites, this book examines the reasons for which gaming can occupy such a central place in people's lives, to the point of excess. As such, it will be of interest to sociologists and psychologists working in the fields of cultural and media studies, the sociology of leisure, information technology and addiction.